Crashed Indonesian plane had faulty air speed indicator: official

05.11.2018

An Indonesian airliner carrying 189 people that plunged into the Java Sea last week, with no survivors, appears to have had a faulty air speed indicator, an official said Monday.

National Transportation Safety Committee Chief Soerjanto Tjahjono Said told a press conference that the Boeing 737 MAX 8, operated by Lion Air, exhibited air speed indicator problems during four flights, including its final one on Oct. 29.

It remains unknown what caused the crash.

The flight data recorder, which records various parameters such as speed, altitude and engine power, has been recovered, but efforts continue to locate the plane’s cockpit voice recorder.

Flight JT610 was bound for the island of Bangka, off southeastern Sumatra, when its pilots reported a flight control problem two minutes after takeoff from Jakarta.

Lion Air has acknowledged that the plane had also experienced a technical problem during its previous flight, from Bali to Jakarta on Oct. 28, but maintains that it was resolved.